The network's record quarter was fueled by hits including the Emmy-winning Top Chef, the top food show on cable among adults aged 18-to-49, and Season 3 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, which delivered the highest-rated season in the Housewives franchise history among all key demos with 3.6 million total viewers and more than 2.5 million in the advertiser-coveted demo. Season 4 of The Millionaire Matchmaker earned its highest-rated season ever with 1.9 million total viewers and 1.3 million in the demo — an increase of 44 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

Last year's top cable sitcom, Hot in Cleveland, returned for its second season and averaged 3.1 million total viewers, up 346 percent. TV Land's second original sitcom, Retired at 35, attracted more than 1.6 million total viewers, a 135 percent improvement for the time slot. And Raymond averaged more than a million viewers, up 46 percent.

In other quarterly ratings news, the audience for Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck plummeted 30 percent in average viewership versus the first quarter of 2010. While still far ahead of the competition in the 5-6 p.m. time slot, Beck's show fell from 2.78 million to 1.94 million total viewers. CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews both rose — the former from 661,000 to 726,000, that latter from 524,000 to 679,000.